From Farm to Financial Aide

Today was an exciting day!  My preschool 4's class went on a field trip to Real Life Farm in Canton, Michigan.  My husband and daughter came along as well.  Interestingly, my husband attended summer day camp at Real Life Farm as a child 35 years ago. 

We participated in many activities including feeding baby goats and sheep, milking a cow, making butter, going on a hay ride (although it should be called a straw ride), and riding horses in a corral.  Froggy Boots (my daughter) was a little impatient at times (not surprising since she's not yet 2 years old), but enjoyed seeing all of the animals, sitting next to the cow while I milked it and chasing after the ducks and geese.  It was a long, fun day at the farm complete with lots of mud from all of the rain we've been having here in Michigan.  Thank goodness we brought along the froggy boots (real boots this time, not my daughter)!

On a totally different subject, Froggy Boots received her acceptance letter to one of the local Montessori schools for the 2011-2012 school year.  After going back and forth about whether to send her to Montessori school or not, we finally decided this would be the best fit for her.  Of course, like most people, we are financially limited, which makes even the thought of going the Montessori route seem next to impossible.  Fortunately, after filling out what seemed like an endless amount of online paperwork, we have been blessed with a scholarship directly from the school to help pay tuition. 

We, however, are still not in the clear as far as paying for tuition.  The school's top tuition award is 50% (which is what we qualified for), which leaves us with the other 50%.  Although much more manageable, this is still more than we can cover for any extended period of time.  So, I'm in the process of applying for a secondary scholarship from another organization.

Let me just say that applying for private schools and scholarships is a very time consuming process and does cost some money.  There is a lot of paperwork as well as school application fees and fees from the outside companies who collect your financial information.  So, before you decide to go down the private school road, make sure the school you are applying to is one that you really believe will benefit your child.  Once you start the process, it is very difficult to go back because you already have so much time and money invested in the process.  Thankfully, I have no doubt that the Montessori method and the school to which we have applied are an excellent fit for Froggy Boots!